The UK’s financial regulator is investigating whether Crispin Odey, the hedge fund manager facing allegations of sexual misconduct, is a “fit and proper person” to work in financial services.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has told MPs it was investigating claims that Odey, who was forced out of his firm Odey Asset Management (OAM) by its board last month, dismissed the firm’s executive committee “for an improper purpose”.
“It is necessary and appropriate for me to confirm to the committee that the FCA has ongoing investigations into both Mr Crispin Odey and Odey Asset Management,” said Nikhil Rathi, the regulator’s chief executive, in a letter to the Treasury select committee published on Wednesday. “We are investigating whether Mr Odey is a fit and proper person to work in financial services and whether Mr Odey has failed to comply with the FCA’s conduct rules relating to integrity and acting with due skill, care and diligence.”
The multimillionaire Conservative donor has been accused of sexually abusing or harassing 13 women over decades, after an investigation by the Financial Times and Tortoise Media. Odey has denied any misconduct.
Odey allegedly dismissed the OAM executive committee in 2021 after it tried to discipline him for his behaviour for a second time, having previously issued him with a formal written warning.
The regulator said OAM and Odey Wealth Management had asked it last month to remove Odey’s position as a certified individual, which made him unable to work with any of the firms’ clients.
The FCA said Odey, one of Britain’s best-known hedge fund managers, had not held an approved senior manager role since 2020.
“An assessment that leads us to believe an individual is not fit and proper may result in us making a prohibition order banning them from performing regulated activity,” Rathi said. “The central question to be considered is whether the individual is fit and proper to perform specified functions in the future on the basis of their honesty, integrity and reputation; competence and capability; and financial soundness. It involves consideration of all relevant circumstances.”
The FCA said it was also investigating OAM for possible contraventions of its principles for business for “failing to conduct its affairs with due skill, care and diligence, and failing to take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly and effectively”.
The watchdog said that its supervision of OAM has been “intensive” since 2020 and that it had opened investigations into the company in mid-2021.
“We have repeatedly and publicly set out that we expect firms to have a healthy culture, where people are able to speak up and challenge,” Rathi said.
The FCA said it would not be cowed by the threat of legal action by Odey, after lawyers acting for him sent the regulator a letter “threatening judicial review” when it first opened its investigation. “We responded robustly to this,” said Rathi.
The financial regulator said it had been in contact with the police over the allegations against Odey, although its focus is on alleged breaches of financial regulations.
“Regulatory action or an investigation of regulatory matters is not intended as a replacement for, or alternative to, a police investigation or criminal prosecution,” he said. “As some of the allegations reported in the press are potentially criminal in nature, we have been in contact with the police. Any decision on whether or not to investigate is a matter for them.”
